U.I.S.S.R.

Population as of 2190 census: 42,315,869
Capital City: Novaya Moskva, Novaya Moskva 5, Novaya Moskva

Official Language: Russian
Government: Communist

Military Strategy: Fighter Swarm
Percentage of Population in Military: 0.1%
Number of Star Systems under UISSR Control: 27

1. Novaya Moskva
2. Novaya Zheneva
3. Novaya Sankt-Peterburg
4. Novaya Novosibirsk
5. Novaya Sverdlovskoĭ
6. Novaya Nizhniĭ Novgorod
7. Novaya Samara
8. Novaya Omsk
9. Novaya Kazan
10. Novaya Chelyabinsk
11. Novaya Rostav-na-Donu
12. Novaya Ufa
13. Novaya Volograd
14. Novaya Permskiĭ
15. Novaya Kransnoyarsk
16. Novaya Voronezh
17. Novaya Saratov
18. Novaya Krasnodar
19. Novaya Tol'yatti
20. Novaya Izhevsk
21. Novaya Ul'yanovsk
22. Novaya Barnaul
23. Novaya Vladivostok
24. Novaya Yaroslavl
25. Novaya Irkutsk
26. Novaya Tyumen
27. Novaya Makhachkala

State Religion: Atheism
Average Annual Net Income: ¢937,124,058
Average Annual Gross Income: ¢9,371,245,680 
Primary Expenditures:  

1. Food Imports (37%)
2. Military (23%)
3. Education & Infrastructure (20%)

If you were to ask the average citizen the most powerful nation in the known galaxy, their answer would be either the Reich, or the U.I.S.S.R. Founded by revolutionaries in the early twentieth century off of the writings of Karl Marx, the U.I.S.S.R. remains the oldest currently standing nation known to humans. For practical reasons the modern Soviet government isn't pure communist, though those that are a part of the U.I.S.S.R. would never say so.

A Council exists to organize and direct the massive industrial juggernaut that their nation is. Each major aspect of the nation that requires government oversight or direction has a member on the Council. The Council member represents their organization that oversees a necessary aspect of the nation, some of which being larger or smaller than others and having more or fewer responsibilities. The Council members are chosen by peer vote amongst the higher echelons of their organization every ten years. The two largest organizations are the International Trade and Soviet Military.

The International Trade is in charge of not only acquiring goods from outside the U.I.S.S.R. that they cannot produce, but also evenly distributing both locally produced and imported goods as equally as possible. Certain products will of course not go to places where it isn't needed, but by and large traded and locally produced goods are spread about equally.

The Soviet Military is at the same time the largest and the smallest of the organizations that have a seat on the Council. The military has the fewest citizens within it, but when clones are counted it outnumbers the rest of the nation almost a thousandfold. The officers of the Soviet Military are all volunteer citizens trained in leadership and communications, the rest of the military are clones. The U.I.S.S.R. has twenty official cloning facilities, though the word facility is a misnomer (each "facility" is actually an entire planet devoted to creating clones for the Soviet military) and a common bar room question is how many unofficial cloning facilities exist.

Each cloning station teaches clones certain skills required to run a military ship outside of dry dock. Whether it be cooking, cleaning, maintenance, etc., almost everything done on a Soviet military ship is done by the clones. The only skills that are taught to every clone regardless of the facility that they originated from are related to fighters. Every clone is taught how to care for and pilot the Soviet fighters that form the backbone of their military.

Almost every ship in the Soviet Military that isn't a fighter is a Mantikora-Class Battle-Carrier. The Mantikora-Class Battle-Carrier has a 19,200 ft³ Officers' Quarters (which includes sleeping pods, restroom facilities, and a kitchen), one meter thick outer hull, a 38,400 ft³ bridge, and 93 conveyer belts that cross the entire ship holding fighters that hurl the fighters into combat. Each fighter is 4 meters tall, 6 meters wide, and 5 meters long at the four Point Laser Batteries. Each fighter is built in an X design with the four ends containing both a Plasma Torch Drive and a Point Laser Battery. When a fighter returns to its Battle-Carrier, it is housed on the conveyer belt before the Pilot Control Pod disconnects from the fighter's hull and transports to the Crew Deck (a roughly 10,000,000 m³ deck in the middle of the ship).

FTL: Travel & Communications

           True Faster-Than-Light travel is impossible. Scientific discoveries repeatedly and continually support Einstein's assertion that light is the fastest medium in the universe. The sheer distance between star systems means that even at light speed the nearest neighboring star system is year away if you travel from point A to point B. There's no ifs, ands, or buts about it. However there are ways of working around the problem of interstellar distances.

           The Von Frietag Continuum Convolution Device, and its more advanced descendants called jump drives, bypass the problem of distance by taking point A and point B and folding the space between them until the amount of space to travel becomes negligible. This allows massive distances to be crossed almost instantaneously. However there are still problems with this form of travel, some of which have been reduced, others continue to puzzle scientists and researchers.

           The first issue is the limitations on how much space is taken on a jump. While decades of research have managed to find ways to shrink the three dimensional area that is taken on a "jump", no ways studied or attempted have been able to increase it beyond the original limit. The space taken severely limits how ships with jump drives installed can be structured. First the jump drive must be placed exactly in the center of the ship due to the area jumped being centered on the drive itself. Second, the ship cannot exceed any of the dimensions that can be taken on a jump; most ship builders work around this by leaving at lease a meter of leeway, though some ship models push the limits to the very precise edge.

            The second issue is the most curious of byproducts: tachyons. Techyons are a  poorly understood particle incapable of traveling any slower than the speed of light. When a jump drive activates, large amounts of tachyons form inside of the drive. Logic dictates that the tachyons would rip apart the drive due to the sheer speed they are traveling at, however instead they become trapped in the drive and prevent the drive from engaging until all of the tachyons are purged from the drive. Tachyons will be discussed in more detail later on.

           The third problem with current engines is the heat that is generated with each jump, the further the jump the greater the heat generated. The longest recorded jump that the crew of the ship survived was in 2193 with a Reich prototype drive that managed a jump of 23.1 lightyears. The drive generated so much heat that the drive itself and everything in a ten meter radius melted to slag. Fortunately for the crew such an even was planned for and none were hurt.

           The forth major problem is rarely an issue in modern times given the requirements for it to occur. Early ship builders attempted to work around the problem of purging a drive of tachyons by installing several drives into a single ship. In every case the drive activated would interact with the others installed and cause a short-lived massive localized gravitational field, or in other words a black hole.

           Modern communications beyond a planet's surface operates in two very different ways. The first is only used for close range communications within 5 astronomical units while the second is used for distances exceeding the aforementioned distance.

           The close-range communications are essentially data packets transported in a short laser burst. This form of communication can transmit text, audio, video, and almost any other kind of data file over its distance. While there is no actual limit to the distance that this form of communication could be used for, practicality limits its effectiveness to a very small distance.

           The second form of communication utilizes tachyons developed as a byproduct of the jump drives activating. Encoding a message onto several tachyons, the tachyons are then guided out of the jump drive and sent in the direction of the intended receiver. The tachyon messages thus far are only capable of sending text or audio based messages, and research has been done in finding alternate ways of communications with little success.

History: 2151-Present

2151: Splice-Tech develops new official language based on Old Norse, language simply dubbed New Norse.

2155: ISS civil war continues to rage, neither side makes much headway. IEJ diplomats makes proposal to Neo Babylon and Splice-Tech for AI run expedition into uncharted systems.

2158: Splice-Tech finds alien artifact identical to one discovered in 2089, attempts to identify purpose of the object meet with failure.

2159: Fleet of twenty seven ships appear in the Aldebaran system occupied by the UISSR, members of the fleet claim that they were sent to colonize the Hyades cluster for the Empire of Japan, examination of their ships reveal that the fleet is the same one that was lost in 2071, how the fleet traveled almost one hundred year in a single jump unanswered; UISSR contacts IEJ regarding what they want to do, IEJ takes the fleet in and begins helping them adjust to the new times.

2162: Reich develops form of FTL drive (nicknamed jump engine or jump drive) to run on 225 kilograms of hydrogen gas.

2164: Splice-Tech gives up on attempting to understand how the alien artifact works, declares it to utilize a unique substance that they are unwilling to take from it due to lack of knowledge of how it would affect the device.

2168: Joint fleet of AI from IEJ, Reich, Neo Babylon, UISSR, and FOSS begin exploring edges on known space.

2172: AI fleet declares their own nation out of the territory that they have been exploring, dub their nation Matrix Coalition, war between Reich and UISSR called to an end as all major nations watch to see what the Matrix Coalition is planning.

2173: Matrix Coalition sends out diplomats bearing non-aggression treaties, each major nation signs due to benefits for themselves in the treaties.

2178: Reich manages to reduce tachyon purge time down to two hours between jumps.

2180: All attempts to use tachyons to transmit video files meet with failure, determined that based on current technology text and audio only forms of tachyon communications possible. Splice-Tech nanotechnology research makes breakthrough in regards to medical nanites, colonies of nanites programed to target cancerous growths before being flushed out of the body.

2188: ISS wins civil war, on verge of collapse. Reich begins experimenting with ways to affect the size of the area a jump drive transports when it travels.

2190: Reich manages to shrink the area of a jump engine to 5m³, modified jump engine placed into torpedo to be used against pirates; attempts to increase the area met with minor success of less than half a meter total.

2193: Building off of the technologies developed by Splice-Tech, the Reich develops nanites to operate their ship construction yards orbiting gas giants.

2196: Present time.

Finally the last of the timeline posts are done! I haven't decided what I'll be posting after this, but I was considering delving into one of the twelve nations. I'm going to try to get all of the timeline posts placed into a single folder, and eventually do the same for each nation.

History: 2101-2150

2104: Argona trading company signs agreement with clone-based agricultural colonies to become an individual nation. Attempts at discovering alien civilizations come back without results.

2109: Reich makes breakthrough in tachyon messaging, able to send short audio messages, video continues to be elusive.

2115: Majority of human population now lives off of Terra, estimates register that population within Sol System to be minority within two years.

2122: Slaver and pirate raids increase dramatically, Reich and UISSR blame each other, Neo-Babylon and Splice-Tech suspect Maya.

2125: Rebel group declares war on ISS, ISS forced into civil war. Empire of Japan finally establishes an extrasolar colony, declare themselves the Interstellar Empire of Japan.

2129: IEJ begins experimenting with large "mechs" for use as weapons of war instead of industrial tools, swiftly discards them as impractical due to size.

2130: Small group of independent space stations take the discarded mech plans of the IEJ and begins modifying them. UISSR begins contemplating utilizing clones in their military and mass producing fighters and fighter carriers.

2133: UISSR decides to move military to clone-based fighter swarm tactics, countless cloning facilities developed on various UISSR worlds to supply numbers needed.

2139: Splice-Tech begins experimenting with nanotechnology, eventual goals unstated.

2142:  Group of independent space stations claim to have improved on the mech design, form a unifying government named Federation of Orbital Space Stations, utilize mechs as primary military vehicle. Terra declares itself separate from all interstellar nations.

2144: Various warlords are being assassinated, credit goes to group that call themselves Untrar. Untrar claims all territory previously held by the warlords and immediately ceases all outside contact.

2147: Neo Babylon developed Artificial Intelligence to maintain collective knowledge, named Marduk after the ancient Babylonian god.

2150: War between Reich and UISSR escalates as UISSR sends out first of their new fighter swarms, swarms utilize new fighter design similar to the letter X.

History: 2051-2100

2051: Splice-Tech decides to go from mercenary group, to full fledged nation; leaders purchase a used FTL capable ship from Reich and begins making plans for a colony world of their own.

2055: Reich secretly sends an unmanned FTL capable ship to the Centauri system, ship is programed to scan the system while it purges tachyons from its engine before making a return trip with the data that it acquired; purging of the engine takes four months, returns with data of two planets in the Golden Zone of habitability, plans begin for the first extrasolar colony.

2058: USSR scientists begin looking for ways to utilize the tachyons generated by FTL engines, initial theories are focused on weaponizing them. Splice-Tech secures colonization rights on Mars six kilometers from Reich settlement; immediately begins working on genetically engineering plants to live on Mars.

2062: Splice-Tech begins construction of domed settlement, initial projections place completion of outermost dome at seven months; outer dome completed and sealed in eight months, Splice-Tech begins planting of engineered plants designed to increase oxygen levels within the dome.

2064: Reich completes the ship meant to take supplies to Centauri system, it is the largest ship ever built by humans; when FTL engine activates the ship collapses in on itself. Examination of the wreckage finds that massive amounts of the ship are missing, theorized that the FTL engine can only transport a fixed area.

2065: ISS expedition to Centauri system finds missing portion of the ship meant to begin construction of the first extrasolar colony. Allows determination of maximum range of the FTL system: 750m×1km×2km.

2068: Reich sends colony fleet to the Centauri system just as the Second Interplanetary War begins. USSR reveals new ship class: fighters. The swarms of one man ships obliterate Reich ships in initial battles. Reich scrambles to find defenses against fighters. Splice-Tech sets up new technocratic government.

2070: Reich develops Laser-Verteidigung Gitter, or Laser Defense Grid, which balances out the war with the USSR. Empire of Japan sends fleet to the Hyades star cluster to begin colonization efforts, decide to make the trip in several jumps to ensure that the engines aren't strained beyond capacity.

2071: Fleet sent by Empire of Japan fails to reach destination, explanation for reason why becomes favorite topic of conspiracy theorists.

2074: ISS intervenes in the Second Interplanetary War when several missed shots almost collide with Earth, suggests that the two devote efforts in colonization of other star systems instead of fighting where Earth may be damaged, Reich and USSR agree.

2075: Reich, ISS, USSR, Splice-Tech, Neo Babylon, and Feudal Society devote all of their resources into colonization, assemble a joint fleet of generation ships inhabited by human clones to colonize as many systems as possible. USSR finally finds a use for tachyons, text based messages can be sent using tachyons, has side effect of purging engines faster.

2078: Several colonies established by the fleet sent out by the joint national group. Trading company named Argona forms between colonies to assist in sending agricultural produce they grow to Earth and other colonies. Some begin questioning what will happen when clone colonists begin having children.

2084: Maya colonizes three planets in a star system and abandon territory on Earth. USSR with establishment of extrasolar colonies adds interstellar to their nation's name. Reich colonizes seven different systems, makes capital world in Vega system.

2086: Now that both have several extrasolar colonies, Reich and UISSR resume war. Neo Babylon establishes itself as interstellar power with first extrasolar colony. ISS civilian ship decides to test limits of FTL engine, attempts to travel 12 lightyears in one trip, trip overheats the engine to such degree as to turn ship into molten slag. Safe range to be traveled in one trip declared to be 6.5 lightyears.

2089: Several individual warlords begin carving out their own territories at edge of known space. Splice-Tech survey ship discovers unknown alien object, trajectory of Earth-sized asteroid determined to collide with the object in two months; object and asteroid determined to be too large to prevent collision, Splice-Tech reluctantly does nothing.

2096: War between Reich and UISSR becoming out of control, nuclear bombs dropped on major civilian centers.

2099: Treaty between all major nations written on Mars, establishes basic rules of interstellar warfare and trade, every major nation signs.

History: 2026-2050

2026: Reich scientists secretly begin experiments with FTL systems, initial results look promising. Neo Babylon and ISS begin secret discussions with Empire of Japan in regards to prosthetic cyberware.

2027: The first "cyborg" is unveiled, created by a small merc group as a new infantry unit, the general public response is revulsion; cyborg has arms, shoulders, and parts of torso replaced with flexible but bullet proof armoring using an alloy developed with the still unnamed material discovered on the Moon covering the entire body, dubbed the Terminator Infantry. India develops a new tank armed with a gun that fires disks only a few molecules thick, nicknamed by foreigners "the Chakram Chucker"

2028: The Chakram Chucker prototype is stolen, Neo Babylon accused.  Mercenary group that outfitted the Terminator Infantry begins dabbling in genetics in addition to purchasing all of the lunar material they can get, the key ingredient in the TI's armoring is leaked to the public, alloy recipe remains secret; public jokingly calls the the material "Unbreakium"

2029: Chakram Chucker reappears on the black market along with blueprints for how to build it. Reich develops a prototype FTL engine, first test jump takes it from lunar orbit to orbit around Mars almost instantaneously; attempt to jump back to lunar orbit fails for unknown reasons.

2030: Mercenary group that created the TI achieves a breakthrough in genetics, have found a way to trigger key genes as a chimpanzee goes through puberty to result in different desired effects, human testing to follow. Reich remains baffled as to why the FTL engine refuses to reactivate. USSR begins construction of five new space stations; consider building enough to house majority of their nation's population.

2033: ISS manages to secretly establish a colony on Mars. Reich scientists finally discover why FTL engine failed after test run, use of the engine resulted in previously theoretical particles called tachyons being formed as a byproduct and interfered with the engine's FTL capabilities, in order to reuse the engine the tachyons had to be removed from the engine itself. Neo Babylon makes modifications to the Chakram Chucker using the blueprints acquired on the black market in order to make it cheaper, used batteries formed out of carbon nanotubes in order to power the tank. Empire of Japan develops a hand-held weapon nicknamed a needler due to the fact that its ammunition are needles sliced off of a block of metal before being propelled out of the barrel.

2034: Maya manages to secure a used ion engine, enabling them to begin reverse engineering the technology to build more for themselves; Mayan government secretly begins trying to develop a nuclear weapon as a side project.

2035: ISS martian colony begins digging into Mars's crust, workers aren't told what they're supposed to be finding. Needler discarded as an ineffective weapon due to low damage potential. Modified versions of Chakram Chuckers become commonplace as weapons of war. Reich capture USSR spies attempting to learn secrets of the Reich's FTL experiments, tensions between Reich and USSR begin to rise. Four of the five space stations USSR had been constructing finished.

2036: Reich and USSR begin to secretly build starships meant for the purpose of war; missiles equipped with nuclear warheads to be primary weapon.

2041: Reich martian colony is attacked, Reich blames USSR. First Interplanetary War begins. Mercenary group that created the TI, now calling themselves Splice-Tech, immediately hired to fight in war.

2045: FIW continues to rage, neither side has made any major headway. ISS begins construction of a ship that could hold as many people as possible and take them to the nearest star system, estimates place completion of the ship at ten years. Splice-Tech begins using new cybernetics technology and gene enhancements on their soldiers, causing their employers to become uncomfortable in dealing with them.

2048: Reich and USSR call cease-fire, agree to hold off war for minimum of twenty years to allow their nations to recover.

History: 2001-2025

2001: Scientists in USSR develops microscopic tubes that conduct electricity far better than any known substance made entirely of carbon; some suggest that long lengths of the newly named "carbon nanotubes" could be used as the line for the planned space elevator. Reich scientists baffled by the material discovered on the Moon.

2002: Pyramids of Giza destroyed by rival nation in an attempt to break the morale of the Egyptian people; instead has the opposite effect. Eastern Canada merges with ISS while Western Canada merges with CWS. Empire of Japan develops new materials theoretically capable of withstanding the heat of Venus.

2003: Feudal Society now consists of 30,000 members scattered across almost every nation on the planet, secret talks amongst higher ranking members discuss leaving Earth to develop their own extraterrestrial nation. Kuppel and Schäfer complete the tunnels between the two colonies, hold off of mining the newly discovered material until more is known about it. USSR devotes majority of efforts into advancing technology of carbon nanotubes.


2004: USSR university student accidentally creates propulsion system that allows faster space travel; USSR government seizes the technology and begins refining it. Empire of Japan spies manage to get a hold of blueprints of the new engine. ISS declares breakthrough made on prosthetic technology, developing a way to connect sensors in mechanical limbs to human nerves.


2005: Egypt manages to take over northern coast of Africa; small group calling themselves Neo Babylon carves out a small territory next to the Red Sea. Reich scientists give up on examining unknown lunar material, declares that it is like cavemen trying to determine how guns work. Feudal Society begins seriously considering locations to travel to outside Earth. 


2006: CWS capital and seven most heavily populated cities destroyed by atomic bombs, remnants of CWS dissolve into panic and anarchy. Egypt begins loosing territory, having spread too far too fast for them to maintain control. Empire of Japan approaches breakthrough on stolen engine technology.


2007: Shuttles containing materials, technicians, engineers, and other required necessities set out from Schafer to Mars with the intent of colonization; with the propulsion system purchased from the USSR, the trip takes less than an hour instead of a month. Four weeks after the Reich expedition arrives at Mars, the Empire of Japan unveils a cheaper, more cost effective version of the USSR's propulsion system. USSR in outrage boycotts the Empire after purchasing one of the new engines. Feudal Society pools together resources and purchases fifty of the Japanese propulsion systems and begins construction of a fleet to transport their entire organization to the target destination of the colony that they will establish.


2008: Construction of the Reich's new colony is proceeding on schedule, several satellites equipped with mirrors are placed above the poles to melt the ice caps to provide liquid water; the best geneticists on both Earth and the Moon are requited to engineer plants that could survive on Mars. Feudal Society, now numbering more than 525,000, completes their fleet and arrives on the Jovian moon of Europa roughly three hours after setting off.


2010: Feudal Society completes the bare bones of their self-sustaining colony, utilizing techniques and technologies developed by the Reich to do so. Egyptian government collapses as Kenyan government becomes largest nation of Africa, still only controls a fraction of the continent, Neo Babylon seizes Cairo to serve as new capital. ISS begins claiming lands formerly held by CWS in a westward push while placing political pressure on Mexico to join.


2012: Neo Babylon manages to overthrow Kenyan government in surprise coup, becomes recognized as a legitimate threat by the rest of the warring African nations, Neo Babylon claims to have a bomb more powerful than any atomic weapon ever produced that they call a hydrogen bomb. USSR ends boycott of Japan and begins construction of a space elevator.

2013: The Mars colony is finished, largely underground, and colonists begin traveling there from Earth. Empire of Japan unveils the first AI, little more intelligent than a four year old human, it still shocks the world.

2015: The construction of the space elevator is completed, travel from ground level to station at opposite end takes 32 hours. Feudal Society colony at Europa is completed.


2016: Religious extremist group in Mexico modeled after a fusion of the Maya and Aztec beliefs begins a massive recruitment drive. ISS now controls all of North America above Mexico. Schäfer begins an expansion project into the tunnels connecting it to Kuppel with the eventual goal of merging the two.


2017: The religious extremist group detonates bombs at several religious buildings throughout the Yucatan Peninsula, no demands are made, no reason given. Feudal Society begins planning mining projects of Jupiter's outer atmosphere to create an income by taking what they need and selling the rest to the nations on Earth. USSR begins construction of a third space station, this one larger than previous two combined.


2020: Neo Babylon begins entering diplomatic channels to convince the other nations of Africa to peacefully join. Religious extremists in Mexico begin bombing nonreligious targets, more specifically the drug cartels. Reich proves existence of tachyons, previously theoretical particles that can only travel faster than light. USSR's largest space station reaches half-constructed point. Empire of Japan, building on the ISS's technology, successfully give a human a robotic prosthetic that works just as well as the original limb.


2021: Feudal Society begins harvesting the outer atmosphere of Jupiter. Reich scientists begin working on ways that could solve the distance problem between star systems. 


2023: USSR completes the largest space station ever known to man, город в небе, which is large enough to house the population of London and half of Manhattan. Neo Babylon though diplomacy now controls the northern half of Africa. Still unnamed religious extremist group performs military coup and replaces the Mexican government; name their new nation Maya.


2025: Reich scientists come up with a theoretical system to achieve what is effectively faster than light travel, works by folding two points in space so distances between locations becomes negligible. Empire of Japan secretly lands a probe on Venus covered in the material discovered earlier in the century.